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ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

Voyager

With stunning close-up pictures and time-lapse movies, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed scientists to study Jupiter's atmosphere like never before.

Voyager found that the bands and spots seen on Jupiter's surface were actually gases that flowed and swirled, moving across the entire planet. Scientists thought they might instead have been waves, in which the patterns moved but the gas remained in the same place.

The spacecraft measured wind speeds with greater precision than ever, mapping out how all the atmospheric gases circulated the planet. The twin spacecraft also discovered lightning on Jupiter, measured how the upper atmosphere kept warm from the sun and the heat below, and analyzed the chemistry associated with auroras.

When Voyager 2 arrived at Jupiter just four months after Voyager 1, it took pictures that showed just how dynamic the atmosphere was, discovering that Jupiter's surface had already changed in appearance. The Great Red Spot, for example, looked much more uniform.

Even though the Galileo and Cassini missions would bring more advanced cameras to Jupiter, they didn't fly as close as the Voyagers spacecraft did. To this day, Voyager's images are still among the highest resolution images ever taken of Jupiter's atmosphere. The JunoCam on Juno, however, will rival even Voyager's best pictures.

This dramatic view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings were obtained by Voyager 1 on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 5.7 million miles from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 100 miles across can be seen here.